## Facts

- Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition and multiple wheelchair users (and companions) sued the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd., owner and operator of Coors Field, alleging discrimination in stadium seating under Title III of the ADA.
- Coors Field was constructed after the ADA’s effective date and was subject to the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) for new construction.
- Plaintiffs alleged the Rockies removed certain wheelchair-accessible seats near infield locations and reconfigured/priced accessible seating so wheelchair users were largely confined to clustered areas at the back/top of certain seating sections, with fewer comparable options and higher prices for similar locations.
- The motion addressed a discrete practice: placing wheelchair-accessible seating in clusters at the top of certain seating sections.
- The Rockies argued the configuration complied with ADAAG § 4.33.3, including its exception allowing clustering in limited circumstances involving certain sloped areas.
- Plaintiffs contended § 4.33.3 required integrated and dispersed accessible seating, providing wheelchair users substantially equivalent choices of locations and viewing angles (including across price ranges and desirable areas).

## Issues

1. Whether ADAAG § 4.33.3 permits, as a matter of law, clustering wheelchair-accessible seating at the top of certain seating sections at Coors Field.
2. Whether the scope of § 4.33.3’s clustering exception (for certain sloped areas) could be resolved on an undisputed record, or instead required factual findings about slopes, sight lines, dispersion, and equivalency of choices.

## Decision

- The court denied the Rockies’ motion for partial summary judgment.
- The court held the Rockies were not entitled to a legal ruling, before trial, that clustering wheelchair seating at the tops of sections complied with ADAAG § 4.33.3.
- The court concluded the meaning and application of § 4.33.3, including the exception for clustering, depended on fact-intensive questions to be resolved at trial.

## Legal Principles

- Title III of the ADA requires places of public accommodation to provide individuals with disabilities full and equal enjoyment of facilities; DOJ regulations incorporate ADAAG as binding standards for new construction.
- ADAAG § 4.33.3 requires (1) wheelchair areas to be an integral part of fixed seating plans and (2) wheelchair locations to be dispersed so wheelchair users have substantially equivalent choices of seating locations and viewing angles.
- The § 4.33.3 exception allowing clustering applies only in limited contexts (including bleachers, balconies, and other areas with sight lines requiring slopes greater than 5%) and still contemplates equivalent accessible viewing positions on levels with accessible egress.
- Summary judgment is improper where material facts and reasonable inferences remain disputed; whether dispersion, integration, equivalency, and any exception apply may require evidence such as diagrams, slope measurements, and comparative sight-line conditions.

## Conclusion

The court refused to declare the Rockies’ clustering practice lawful under ADAAG § 4.33.3 at the pretrial stage, holding that compliance with the dispersion/integration requirements and any clustering exception turned on factual questions to be decided at the bench trial.


Colorado Cross-Disability Coal. v. Colo. Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd., 336 F. Supp. 2d 1141 (D. Colo. 2004)